The Sony PlayStation 4 has been going toe-to-toe with their rivals on the Microsoft Xbox One (on shelves at least) for almost a week now, but something they hope will tip the balance in their favour as many have predicted is the fact that they are yet to release in a large number of markets that Xbox are already covering.

It is an announcement that natually needs to be made, though, and Sony have formally revealed what ‘entertainment apps’ will be featuring where in the markets where they will be rolling out as of Friday (29 November), following a similar announcement made a fortnight ago for ‘North America’.

The key market in that release batch will be Europe, with the UK (where it will be priced at £349) earmarked as gaining a number of key localised video streaming features such as the BBC (providing apps including iPlayer, BBC News, and BBC Sport), Demand 5, LoveFilm, Netflix, and Vidzone, amongst others, with the likes of 4OD, Blinkbox, and NowTV amongst the omissions for the time being.

More pan-European and worldwide services covered include IGN and Sony’s own-brand Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited platforms, with more apps noted as being set to become available within ‘the coming weeks and months’, all of which are claimed to be accessible by users regardless of whether they hold the new gaming-mandatory ‘PS Plus’ subscription package.

Summarising the app releases within their latest markets, the official list of apps and the territories they can be found in reads:

Sony summarised the planned releases, summarising: “Alongside its place as the most highly anticipated gaming console this decade, the services and apps available on PS4 make it a central home entertainment hub. Plus, whilst other consoles require a subscription to access online entertainment services, PS4 users can access all of these features without subscribing to PlayStation Plus. Further apps currently available on the PlayStation 3 will continue to migrate over and join the exciting array of PS4 services such as MUBI, as improvements and optimisation continue to take place.”

While their video app collection will be seen as an impressive one (though perhaps not by number), given the date of the next roll-out you can’t help but feel Sony should try and entice their customers by offering a little more for the occasion: